Archives for USAID

October 31: Over the weekend, the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS) posted audio from a town hall held to recognize USAID’s 50th anniversary. Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah was joined on stage with former USAID Administrators, who shared their unique view and experience leading America’s development agency.

November 2: In an op-ed published in A href=”/cgi-bin/goodbye?http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1111/67453.html”>Politico, former USAID Administrators highlighted the success and value foreign aid has had over the past 50 years. “Using less than 1 percent of the U.S. budget annually, the American people have demonstrated their deepest values through USAID programs. Because of the efforts of the American people, more than 1 billion people now have safe drinking water, smallpox has been eradicated and tens of millions have been saved though USAID’s famine relief efforts.”

November 3:Look to the Stars, which publishes stories on celebrities making a positive impact on the world, wrote an article on USAID’s FWD Campaign. The story highlighted USAID’s work with the Ad Council, which launched a national PSA campaign featuring Josh Hartnett, Uma Thurman, Geena Davis, Chanel Iman, and Dr. Jill Biden. The ads call on the American public to forward the facts on the famine in the Horn of Africa.

In Kosovo, RTK Public TV filmed an episode of “Classroom Makeover”, in which parents and teachers use materials donated by the community to update and improve classrooms. The show was inspired by a USAID project of same concept.

In Nicaragua, we are supporting fair elections. In the face of this complex, non-transparent environment for the November 6th national elections, USAID’s election program is focusing on supporting civil society groups that will demand a fair and transparent process. Etica y Transparencia (ET) and the Instituto para el Desarrollo y la Democracia (IPADE), while not accredited, will deploy citizen observers who conduct crowdsourcing via an interactive election website (www.vivaelvoto.com) to document any complaints, irregularities, and violence that may be detected.

October 26: USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah was interviewed on Fox 5 News to discuss the launch of the new Public Service Announcements highlighting the FWD Campaign. Advertising Age also wrote an article on the videos that feature Dr. Jill Biden, Uma Thurman, Josh Hartnett, Geena Davis and Chanel Iman.

October 26:The White House Blog reports that during a livestreamed video webchat at the White House, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah joined Senior Director of the NSC Gayle Smith and John Carson, Director of the Office of Public Engagement, to discuss the latest developments in the Horn of Africa and take questions from viewers online.

October 27:Devex reported on USAID’s public-private partnership week and the important role businesses can play in development. In the article, Devex highlighted Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah’s economic growth speech. “I’m talking about helping support the work of markets that can deliver profits and create opportunities for women, minorities and the poor,” Shah said. “In short, we must embrace a new wave of creative, enlightened capitalism.”

Jonathan Shrier serves as Acting Feed the Future Acting Deputy Coordinator for Diplomacy/Acting Special Representative for Global Food Security, and Ertharin Cousin serves as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture. Originally posted on DipNote, the U.S. Department of State Official Blog.

Today, World Food Day, reminds us that hunger is a reality for nearly a billion people worldwide. Rising and volatile food prices since last year have pushed tens of millions of additional people into the ranks of the hungry.

This is a particularly poignant day as we have just returned from the Horn of Africa, where there more than 13 million people are in need of emergency humanitarian assistance. In Somalia, a lack of effective governance and the actions of the al-Shabaab terrorist group in preventing humanitarian aid from reaching those in need have turned a bad drought into outright famine.

We traveled to Ethiopia and Kenya with USAID Administrator Raj Shah, where we met with our partners in the region, including government officials, civil society, and private sector representatives, to discuss improving food security over the short, medium, and long-term.

October 8: Over the weekend, The New York Times published an editorial supporting the budgets for the State Department and foreign aid. “Savings squeezed from the State Department and foreign aid — which together are less than a tenth of the basic Pentagon budget — would be a tiny share of the $3.8 trillion federal budget. Yet the effects would be hugely damaging to American foreign policy.”

October 9: Ethiopia’s Addis Fortune published excerpts of an interview with USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah, on his meeting with Ethiopia Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and his visit to the region.

President Johnson Sirleaf, Gbowee and Karman were announced as recipients of the prize today by the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo. They were honored for “their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

Elected in 2005 as Africa’s first female president, President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has worked tirelessly to rebuild Liberia after 14 years of devastating civil wars that killed an estimated 250,000 people. USAID had the honor of hosting President Johnson Sirleaf at a development forum this year, where she spoke about her mission to move Liberia past the need for development assistance by 2020. Johnson Sirleaf is involved in the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to raise awareness of issues of critical importance to women.

A social worker and mother of five, Leymah Gbowee is head of the Accra-based Women Peace and Security Network Africa, which works to build relationships across the West African sub-region to build women’s capacity in preventing, averting and ending conflicts. She organized the non-violent movement that eventually ended the Second Liberian civil war in 2003. Gbowee is also the central character in the 2008 documentary film Pray the Devil Back to Hell, which has been used as an advocacy tool in post-conflict zones like Sudan and Zimbabwe, mobilizing African women to petition for peace and security

And chairwoman of Women Journalists without Chains, Tawakkul Karman, is a human rights activist and journalist. At 32, she is one of the youngest Nobel Prize recipients. Karman has been among the leaders of the peaceful protests challenging the rule of Yemen’s President Ali Abdulla Saleh, arguing for women’s rights, democracy and peace. In January this mother of three, took to the streets of the capital with about 50 university students demanding the resignation of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
I applaud the Nobel Committee for recognizing these extraordinary leaders and for shining a spotlight on the role women peace-builders play in creating more stable, prosperous societies around the world.

At USAID, we remain proud to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment as integral components of all our development initiatives. As we continue our commitment to improving the lives of women and girls everywhere, we should recognize these living heroes as critical partners and allies.

October 3:Foreign Policy’s “The Cable” blog reports that USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah is traveling to Ethiopia and Kenya this week to visit areas affected by the drought. Administrator Shah will be visiting heads of state and senior leadership, as well as pulling together the humanitarian and NGO communities, to assess progress on the challenges that the drought has brought to the Horn of Africa.

October 3: In a blog posted on ABC News’ website, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah calls on readers to take the Million Moms Challenge, which aims to help mothers and newborns around the world who are at high-risk of complications and death during the first 48-hours of childbirth.

October 4: The Associated Press and Voice of America reports that while visiting Ethiopia this week, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah pledged an additional $127 million in aid on behalf of the American people. The three new aid grants, including a major food security program, will help reach 1.5 million Ethiopians who are suffering from chronic hunger conditions.

October 4: In an op-ed published in The Huffington Post, singer-songwriter and actress Mandy Moore writes of her work as an Ambassador for PSI, a global health organization that works closely with USAID. Moore writes, “When our country invests in global health, we are doing the right thing. When USAID succeeds, we all benefit. We invest less than 1% of the federal budget in strengthening the health and economic development in other countries, and we get incredible results.”

October 5: The Associated Press reports that countless lives have been saved as a result of interventions to stop famine spreading throughout the Horn of Africa. During his visit to the region, USAID Administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah explained that nearly 4.5 million people have been able to withstand the drought as a result of inoculating their livestock against diseases. While in the region, Administrator Shah also encouraged the governments of Ethiopia and Kenya to make reforms in their agricultural sectors to boost agricultural growth and food self-sufficiency over time.

September 23: Last Friday, Federal News Radio aired a story about USAID’s FWD campaign that seeks to raise awareness about the famine in the Horn of Africa through interactive communications. The Famine, War, and Drought (FWD) campaign aims to build a strong online presence and utilize social media to inform the public about the crisis and raise more awareness.

September 28: Dartmouth College’s student newspaper highlighted the appointment of one of its alums, Mara Rudman, Assistant Administrator for the Middle East Bureau. Rudman was sworn in on Tuesday and will oversee development, diplomacy and defense efforts in order to promote stability in the region and protect the interests of the United States.

Agriculture is the largest single employer in Kenya and counts for one fourth of the country’s GDP, but the current agricultural production methods in Kenya are inefficient, causing economic stagnation and poverty. USAID and partners on the ground in Kenya have developed competitive programs for maize, dairy, passion fruit, and small hold farmers to help improve productivity. These initiatives – like USAID’s Feed the Future – have transformed lives, promoted sustainable agricultural development, and improved the nutritional options for many of Kenya’s people.

In the coming weeks, we will highlight 4 videos celebrating USAID’s partnership with Kenya. The first video in this series shows the variety of agriculture programs and activities that have occurred over the past 50 years and the impact that they have had on the people of Kenya.

In Batticaloa, Sri Lanka we held a friendly cricket tournament between youth from the East and South to mark International Peace Day.

In Jaffna, Sri Lanka we opened a collection center and distributed “freezer trucks” to farmers as part of USAID’s public-private alliances program. This hand over of equipment, tools and grants will improve productivity and profitability of fruit and vegetable cultivation in the conflict-affected Northern Province. These partnerships will not only provide employment to young men and women in the conflict-affected districts but also offer training and social integration among members of diverse ethnic groups.

In Vavuniya, Sri Lanka under our Office of Transition Initiatives program, we will hand over a large truck to recently resettled farmers in the North in a bid to enhance their marketing potential and to foster relations between the North and the South. Farmers will also receive water pumps and sprinklers on a credit basis.

In Iraq, as part of an ongoing effort to improve local governance and build local capacity, we held a competition for the best District Council website. The websites will evaluated based on their content quality and quantity, layout/ organization, update frequency, and objectivity/reliability.

In Jordan, as part of our water resources management program, we began work at a new wastewater treatment plant. Jordan is one of the ten most water-deprived countries in the world. The treatment plant will help improve the health and environmental conditions of the surrounding areas.

In the Ukraine, we will hold a 10th Anniversary celebration of Telekritika, a key media watchdog in Ukraine and a long-standing USAID partner. The celebration includes award ceremony to honor TV producers and TV journalists whose activities represent the highest ethical reporting standards to strengthening independent media in Ukraine.